About us

I can still remember the droning alarm and cold linoleum beneath me as I crouched under a desk during a nuclear drill in elementary school in the early 1980s. The Cold War was winding down, but to a child, the threat of nuclear annihilation felt all too real. That dread left a deep imprint – one that made me sensitive, from a young age to the quiet burdens children carry when the adults in charge are at odds. 

Around the same time, my family hosted Saudi college students in our home – a striking cultural contrast to the neon-colored pop culture of 1980s America! The sight of conservative, white-robed Muslim young men in our American suburban household left a lasting impression. It made me practically understand the idea of cultural distinction. It also was an early primer on profound differences in religious perspectives. These experiences piqued my curiosity, appealed to my sense of adventure, and ignited what has become a lifelong interest in understanding and connecting with people from all sorts of places and backgrounds. 

Decades later, I watched in horror as the September 11th attacks unfolded. The sheer scale of destruction, immense suffering, profound sorrow and fear shook me to my core. I felt an urgent need to understand how humanity had reached such a breaking point, and what could be done to prevent anything like it from happening again. 

Acting on this instinct wasn’t too big a leap for me as I had always been “interested” in the world and my country as long as I could remember. I distinctly remember “voting” for President Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election at the ripe old age of 7! But after 9/11, I saw the world through a different lens and with a new urgency. I began paying much closer attention to how the U.S. engaged with the rest of the world, especially the Middle East. I knew I wanted to contribute to America’s response to the tragedy, and believed the best way to prepare to do that was to first understand the region – its history, cultures, geopolitics, and the perspectives that shape its national interests and policies. That conviction led me to focus my academic studies on the history of Islamic civilization. 

This focus eventually took me to Egypt, where I spent a year studying abroad at the American University in Cairo. Immersed in a diverse community of professors and students from Egypt, the Gulf, South Asia, and beyond, I gained insights that no textbook could offer. From there, I earned a master’s degree in Security Policy Studies from George Washington University’s Elliott School, which launched my career in global security. 

My first role placed me at the heart of a U.S. Department of State–funded effort to redirect former Iraqi weapons scientists—some of whom had worked within Saddam Hussein’s military-industrial complex—toward peaceful, civilian pursuits. Modeled after successful post-Soviet engagement programs, the initiative was both technically ambitious and deeply human in its aims. These programs forged authentic, enduring U.S.-Iraqi professional collaborations and personal friendships. 

During that time, I helped build a fellowship program that elevated not only the work of the Iraqi participants, but also the understanding and appreciation of the American communities who hosted them. It was one of the first clear signs of what would become a throughline in my career: an instinct to design new models of human engagement that generate better outcomes for everyone involved. 

By 2011, I was deployed to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, leading counter-ISIL initiatives and witnessing firsthand what it takes to build security systems that are not only effective, but also inclusive and resilient. Over the next decade, I worked across both the public and private sectors, often feeling boxed into roles that undervalued systems thinking and overlooked the transformative power of relationship-centered strategies. 

All the while, the world was changing. The COVID-19 pandemic. Rising political polarization. Disinformation campaigns. Trade wars. Natural disasters. And conflict after conflict erupting across the globe. The common thread wasn’t just crisis, it was disconnection. People drowning in division. Systems cracking under the weight of mistrust. 

That’s when it became clear: Coalescion wasn’t just an idea whose time had come – it was a necessity. 

Today, humanity stands at a global crossroads. Technology offers breathtaking promise, but also terrifying potential. No innovation, however advanced, can solve our most urgent challenges if we remain fractured at the human level. Survival alone is no longer enough. 

That’s why Coalescion exists. 

We’re not just another nonprofit. We are a growing group of concerned citizens who see our existence as being at a civilizational pivot point – like the emergence of Hammurabi’s Code or the Treaty of Westphalia – where the very blueprint for human coexistence and governance must be reimagined. Toward that end, Coalescion is building and testing new models for national and global cohesion, reciprocal learning, stakeholder engagement, and responsive systems that protect and advance the human experience. 

We develop pedagogical and capacity-building strategies that elevate entire groups, not just individuals. We design messaging that turns abstract policy into shared understanding. We map stakeholders not as data points, but as dynamic parts of living ecosystems, helping connect citizens to their governments, sectors to one another, and professionals across silos and borders. 

In a world hungry for new answers, Coalescion is offering the blueprint. 

At Coalescion, we believe survival and safety are just the floor. Thriving together is the ceiling we must reach for. 

My faith, my childhood experiences, and the sum of my global work, education, and travels have all shaped what I now see as a calling: not just to analyze the world’s wounds, but to help heal them. To be, in the truest sense, a fisher of men. We’re not here to patch the holes in a sinking boat, we want to design a better vessel. One that moves forward without capsizing others. One that travels with purpose, without poisoning the waters it sails through. 

We are all scions of this earth, heirs to its possibility. 

Coalescion exists to help us remember that. To coalesce with intention. With kindness. With respect for each other’s boundaries, instincts, and dignity. 

Because if we can rebuild how we relate to one another, we can rebuild everything. 

Because thriving isn’t a luxury. 

It’s the only future worth building.